Robert Morris’ Victim Cindy Clemishire Speaks Out on Pain, Resilience, and Faith in Christ

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The woman whom Pastor Robert Morris pleaded guilty to abusing is speaking out, saying in a new interview that she has a newfound peace and is holding fast to her faith in Christ.

Morris, 64, pleaded guilty this month to five counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child, accepting a deal that includes a 10-year suspended sentence and six months in jail – as well as a payment of $270,000 to the victim, Cindy Clemishire. She was 12 and he was in his early 20s in the 1980s when he abused her.  

Clemishire was consulted on the deal and was present in the courtroom when he entered his plea. She also read a statement.

Morris is the founding pastor of Gateway Church, a Dallas–Fort Worth-area megachurch.

“The only way I can verbalize what happened in that courtroom was, when he walked out in handcuffs and I stood up, I felt like I had been wearing a costume my entire adult life and living out that character,” she told CBN News. “And that costume came off of me and stayed on the bench I was sitting on in that courtroom, and I walked out as the woman that God actually created me to be.”

In the interview, Clemishire shared that Morris stole her childhood and left her battling deep scars.

“In my victim statement, I told Robert that, not only did he steal my innocence and basically murdered the woman I was supposed to grow into… he basically built this twisted framework on a foundation that my parents had built with me that was very solid,” Clemishire said. “He began building a framework that was very twisted on what love is, and it… more taught me that abuse is love.”

“Robert did not do anything but teach me that my body was not sacred,” she said. “And that had a major impact on my adult life.”

Clemishire said she still believes in God’s goodness, but she struggles with how church leaders handled her case.

“When you tell so many people that have authority in that religious sector … and some pretty high-up people know … some of the highest up in that part of our religious world, and they just continue to sweep it under the rug,” she told CBN. “They say he’s been restored, they don’t ask about my restoration, they don’t pursue helping me find restoration or my family.”

 

She added, “The frustration and the pain just continues to compound exponentially, and so it really just damages the faith in organized religion.”

The ordeal scarred her faith, she said, but she remains rooted in God’s Word.

“I go straight back to my childhood foundation that my parents gave me,” she told CBN. “My dad … his faith is in Jesus, not in church. He became a Christian as an adult … So his foundation was really in the Word of God, not in church, and so he gave that same foundation to us, and I just was never taught to believe in man.”

She continued, “I was taught to believe the Word of God. I was taught to have a personal relationship with Jesus — to pray, and that’s what I’ve done my whole adult life, even in very difficult times.”

Meanwhile, Clemishire said forgiveness is an “ongoing process.”

“Again, 70 times seven,” she said, citing Jesus’ words about forgiveness. “I think it’s because the wound — something triggers something and we have to forgive again, and that forgiveness is not for him. It is for me. It is not about his life, and if I ever say, ‘I forgive Robert,’ that doesn’t mean I like him, that doesn’t mean I condone what he did, that doesn’t mean that I think he should be a free man roaming the earth without any consequences. It has nothing to do with Robert’s life, and has everything to do with mine and my relationship with God, and my relationship with my friends and family.”

Photo Credit: ©YouTube/Gateway Church 


Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

Listen to Michael's Podcast! He is the host of Crosswalk Talk, a podcast where he talks with Christian movie stars, musicians, directors, and more. Hear how famous Christian figures keep their faith a priority in Hollywood and discover the best Christian movies, books, television, and other entertainment. You can find Crosswalk Talk on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an interview that will be sure to encourage your faith.

 

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